Packing pad



lNvwToR. John/ E. Kieffer ,ATT W J. E. KIEFFER PACKING PAD Filed March17, 1939 ,Fig. 2

June 2', 1942.

Patented June 2, 1942 f i A 12,284,663

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PACKING PA!) John E. Kieffer, Ewing, Ind.

Appiication March 17, 1939, Serial No. 262, 579

1 Claim.

. flexible, resilient and yieldable, and especially resistant tocrushing. The pad should also be made of very inexpensive materials, andshould possess inherent softness. If the pad is to be used for thepacking of foodstuffs, it should in addition be of such construction asto permit the free circulation of air so as to prevent the formation ofmold.

Prior to the present invention, packing pads usually consisted of a flattubular sheath or envelop containing a filling of fibrous material suchas shredded paper or excelsior. For this reason, packing pads are oftenreferred to as excelsior pads.

Excelsior pads as made for commercial purposes are fairly inexpensive,but they are not entirely satisfactory for general use. Due to thedifficulty of uniformly distributing the filling material throughout theenvelop, the pads are generally of uneven thickness. The filling material shifts its position, particularly in pads of considerable width,which fact sets a practical limit to the width. It has been suggestedthat the filling material be secured to the covering by means of linesof stitching or adhesive. This requires additional materials andoperations, thereby increasing the cost to a prohibitive degree.Furthermore, the finished pad is not as light, soft or flexible as Wouldotherwise be the case. Excelsior pads have the further disadvantage thatunless the ends are taped or stitched down, the filling material escapesfrom the ends. For the same reason, excelsior pads cannot 0rd arily beprovided with ventilating apertures. which limits their use so far aspacking foodstuifs is concerned. In this connection, it is to be notedthat the escaping excelsior or shredded paper litters up the place Wherethe packing operations are carried out as Well as where the articles areunpacked.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a greatly improved andsimplified construction of packing pad, which complies with all the.

use requirements of a packing pad, and which obviates all thedisadvantages and drawbacks of the excelsior type of packing pad.

Another object is to provide a packing pad which does not require anyexpensive or complicated machinery for its manufacture, and which can bereadily very inexpensively produced on a commercial scale in very largequantities.

The invention is of general application in its field, and the specificdetails of construction depend in lar e measure upon the specificpurpose to which the packing pad is to be applied. For illustrativepurposes, the invention will be described with particular reference to(a) packing pads for furniture and fragile articles, and (b) packingpads for foodstuffs such as fruits and vegetables. Not only are theforegoing two of the most promising applications of the invention, butthey lend themselves admirably for the specific disclosure of theinvention such as is required by the patent statutes. Hence, althoughthe invention will be described with considerable detail andparticularity and certain specific terms and language will be employed,it is to be understood that the present disclosure is illustrativerather than restrictve, and that no limitations are to be imported whichare not required by the language of the claims and the state of theprior art.

In its very essence, the packing pad of the invention consists of aplurality of superposed layers of indented paper contained inv a tubularenvelop or sheath. Each layer may consist of a single sheet of indentedpaper, or a single sheet of indented paper of suitable shape and sizemay be folded to form as many layers as desired.

The sheath may advantageously be of a strong cellulosic material such askraft paper. The sheets of indented paper may be made in a manner wellknown in the papermaking art, as for instance, according to theteachings of Patent No. 728,829, issued May 26, 1993, to J. Arkell. Theymay also be made according to disclosures of my prior United StatesPatents Nos. 1,780,526; 2,036,051 and 2,042,470 issued November 4, 1939;March 31, 1936, and June 2, 1936, respectively. I have found itparticularly advantageous to make the filling material of my packing padfrom the non-nesting shock absorbing and cushioning paper disclosed inmy British Patent No, 482,145 dated October 16, 1936, and in mycopending United States application Serial No. 73,410 filed April 9,1936, now Patent No. 2,177,490 dated October 24, 1939.

Referring briefly to the drawing,

Figure 1 is a perspective view of an illustrative form of packingmaterial made in accordance with the teachings of the present invention;

Figure 2 is an enlarged cross-section taken along line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is an enlarged cross-section (partly broken away) taken alongline 3-3 of Figure 1; and

Figure 4 is a perspective View of another illustrative embodiment of theinvention.

Referring briefly to the drawing and particularly to Figures 1, 2 and 3thereof, the packing material is shown in the form of a flat padindicated generally by the numeral l. The pad is shown as consisting ofthree superposed layers of indented paper designated by the numerals 2,3 and 4 enclosed in a tubular covering or sheath 5. The three layers maybe three separate sheets of indented paper or may be a single sheetfolded to form three thickness-es. A permissible variation is to fold anindented sheet of suitable size into two thicknesses and to associatesaid layers in laminated relation with a third layer.

The tubular covering 5, which may be of a strong paper such as kraft, isillustrated as having the overlapping edges forming the seam 6 and theopen ends 1 and 6. The overlapping edges forming the seam may beadhesively secured together, though other means or methods for securingthe edges are not precluded.

As previously stated, the layers 2, 3 and 4 may be of conventionalindented paper or indented paper made according to my hereinbeforementioned patents. In Figures 2 and 3, the indented material isillustrated as being made in accordance with the teachings of my BritishPatent No. 482,145 dated October 16, 1936, and my copending UnitedStates application Serial No. 73,410 filed April 9, 1936, now Patent No.2,177,490 dated October 24, 1939.

The indented paper disclosed in said British and United States patentsis divided in its width into a plurality of longitudinally extendingzones, each zone being provided on one or both of its surfaces with aplurality of indentations, the indentations in any one zone differing inform from those in an adjacent zone. As illustrated in Figures 2 and 3,two or more layers of the above described material are superposed withtheir nonmatching zones in direct contact. Since there is no nesting orregistration of indentations, the pad has a substantially even oruniform thickness equal to the thickness of the indented sheets and thetwo thicknesses of the enveloping layer of kraft paper.

No adhesive or other securing means between the individual layers ofindented paper or between the filler and the enclosing envelop isnecessary, since there is sufficient friction between the variouselements to prevent the filler from slipping out of the sheath. However,the

use of adhesive or other securing means is not precluded. If adhesive isused, it is preferable to apply it very sparingly or in the form ofsingle or discrete particles so as not to detract to an appreciabledegree from the softness, lightness and pliability of the pad. Apermissible variation is to apply a single drop of adhesive between theenveloping wrapper and the contacting sheet of indented material orbetween each of the layers.

The packing pad above described meets all the use requirementspreviously outlined and is admirably suited for the packing andsafeguarding of furniture and fragile articles such as glassware,crockery, etc. It is much softer, pliable and flexible than an excelsiorpad and can very easily be bent about irregular articles such as thelegs and arms of chairs, etc., and about small irregular shaped articlesas statuettes, electric bulbs, etc. The fact that no adhesive or verylittle adhesive is used permits the layers to give readily relative toeach other, thereby contributing to the pads flexibility and pliability.The pad is much lighter in weight than an excelsior pad for the sameamount of protection and has a considerably greater shock resistance.There is practically no limit to the number of sheets of indented paperthat can be built up into a pad, and irrespective of the number oflayers the pad is substantially uniform in thickness. Since there is noloose excelsior or shredded paper to escape from the ends, it isunnecessary to tape the ends which makes for greater economy as Well asfor greater cleanliness in the use of the material.

The packing pad shown in Figure 4 is of substantially the sameconstruction as the pad of Figures 1, 2 and 3, but differs therefrom inbeing provided with apertures for the purpose of providing ventilation.The pad is indicated generally by the numeral it is provided with theenvelop or sheath H and the filling l2, which consists of two ormorelayers or sheets of indented paper as in the first embodiment of the andthus minimizing the formation of mold. In

this connection, it is to be noted that because of its loos-e filling,excelsior pads cannot be perforated for the purpose of providingventilation. In addition to being provided with apertures, the pad ofthe invention may be treated with fungicides or chemicals to prevent theformation of mold.

From the foregoing description, it is thought to be apparent that theinvention provides a greatly improved and simplified packing padpossessing many desirable features of structure and advantage, and thepacking pad of the invention is susceptible of modification in its form,proportions, detail construction and specific arrangement of parts,without departing from the principle or underlying concept of theinvention and without sacrificing any of its advantages.

I claim:

As an article of manufacture, a packing pad of substantially fiatrectangular form and of substantially uniform thickness, said padcomprising a flat tubular sheath or envelop of plain paper havingopposite open ends, and a plurality of superposed layers of non-nestingself-sustaining indented paper enclosed entirely within said sheath orenvelop, said indented paper constituting the filling material for saidpacking pad and being maintained within said sheath or envelopprincipally by the friction between the filling material and the sheathor envelop, and being unattached thereto.

JOHN E. KIEFFER.

These apertures

